Bella

"With what?" My father's tone of voice was expectant. Like Sue, he was waiting for me to finish speaking.

I'd stopped mid-sentence as soon as Edward's phone, still sitting on the table, started vibrating. We looked at each other with an understanding that had the knot of anxiety move from my stomach to my chest.

"Excuse me." He dropped my hand before grabbing his phone. After muttering a give me a second he disappeared down the hallway.

I tried to walk after him, desperate to hear what Quil would tell him, but Charlie held me in place by putting both of his hands on top of my shoulders.

"Bella." His voice was stern. "What the hell is going on?"

What did I tell him? The truth? A portion of the truth? A complete lie?

I wanted to protect both of them from the chance that someone, anyone, could consider them a part of what was about to unfold. Eventually Sam and Paul, and whoever else was involved in this, would figure out that Emily had told me everything. That meant that everyone who had the slightest link to me, Edward, Jasper, Quill, or Embry could all be in danger of whatever retribution they'd come up with. So was it better to tell them the truth or to keep it silent and pray that nothing happened? And then there was Leah…

Leah.

My eyes finally focused on Sue, looking at her just past my father's shoulder. "Do you know where Leah is?"

It took a second for my question to register. And even then she shook her head in confusion. "What?"

"There's…" I swallowed thickly before continuing. My voice was coming out in quick, panicked, sputtering. "There's someone from the reservation that… that I'm- that we're helping- and Leah might be involved. If you know where she is-"

"What do you mean involved?" Charlie had finally released my shoulders.

I looked back and forth between the two of them. "You're going to have to trust me when I tell you that right now… I can't tell you anything. I promise I will explain when I have more answers but the important thing is to find out where she is."

"Is she in trouble?" My father immediately spoke.

Sue sighed before rubbing her forehead. "Is it drugs again?"

Charlie started consoling her, hurrying to tell her that whatever it was they'd fix it. They'd get her help. It wasn't the first time they'd had to have this conversation.

I reached out, holding on to both each of their hands so they'd focus back on me. "Where is she?"

Sue sighed before shrugging. "She left a couple of days ago but I haven't seen her since." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and gave it to me. "Call from your phone. She always ignores mine."

From previous conversations with Charlie, and what little interaction I'd had with her once our parents got married, I knew that Leah's coming and going wasn't new. They'd once gone months without her showing back up at the house. Since her father's death, when she was much younger, she'd run away but always came back once someone had been able to relay her mother's worry to her. As an adult… she just didn't care. I'd always considered her irresponsible and a huge burden on our parents. But now…

I rushed to get the number from Sue's phone, and was dialing, when I heard Edward's bedroom door open.

He walked down the hall, his steps a hard and quick thump against the wooden floor, and I knew that whatever Quil had told him hadn't relieved any of the worry he'd had had.

"Bella, we have to go."

"Go where?" Charlie asked, looking alarmed.

I didn't ask what Quil had told him, or why we had to leave, I just grabbed my purse from the couch.

"Now wait a second." My father followed after me. When I didn't stop he yelled, "Isabella Swan!"

"Dad," I turned around and looked at him- pleading that he would trust me. "Please! I can't tell you anything right now. Can you just- "

"No, I can't!" His voice was still angry. "Something is going on and neither one of you will tell me a damn thing!"

I opened my mouth, ready to continue arguing with him, but Edward stepped between the two of us. "We don't have time for this! Just let them come with us!"

"With you where?" Sue's voice was very small compared to the rest of ours.

He grabbed his suit jacket from the back of couch while answering her. "Hope House."

XXXXXX

Edward's office looked much smaller with all of us gathered inside of it. Alice and the kids were settled on his couch, Sue and Charlie sat at the small table in the corner, while Jasper, Edward, and myself huddled around his desk. We were watching the camera feed from the back gate, waiting for Quil and Embry.

"Where were they coming from?" Jasper quietly asked.

Edward was unusually still, his arms folded across his chest and his eyes trained on the monitor. "La Push."

I shifted uncomfortably, looking from Charlie to Sue, Jasper to Alice, and then the kids.

They were snuggled up together, one on each side of their mother, watching a tablet that sat on Alice's lap. She carefully ran her fingers through their hair but her eyes were focused on something else. Something none of us could see.

"Did you tell her?" I asked, my voice hardly above a whisper.

Edward looked up to see Jasper's jaw muscles tighten before he nodded. The absolute heartache that covered both of their faces made the breath catch in my chest.

"Everything?" Edward asked.

Jasper nodded again.

Behind me, Charlie kept sighing dramatically every few minutes. His fingers were tapping out an aggressive rhythm against the table top and I knew he was close to reaching his limit.

"You need to tell them," Jasper whispered to me.

I didn't respond. Instead my head stayed down, focusing on all the ignored phone calls I'd sent Leah.

Another sigh.

"Bella."

I looked up, meeting Edward's gaze, and nodded even though he hadn't said anything aside from my name.

They needed, deserved, to know and I had to be the one to tell them.

Charlie had been watching us and had his hands firmly planted on the arms of the chair- just waiting to push himself up into a standing position.

"Dad. Sue," I said quietly. "Let's go to my office."

They sat in the two chairs across from my desk- Sue looking weary and doubtful while Charlie looked like he was ready to take on whatever news I was about to give them. He was poised on the edge of this seat, bouncing his legs up and down, waiting.

I took a deep breath. "Does the name Emily Young, or Emily Uley, sound familiar to you?"

Sue frowned, thinking for a moment, but eventually shook her head. "No."

"Sam Uley? Paul Young?"

She looked at my dad for a second and then back at me. "No. Why?"

This was it. This was the one second that could define whatever sort of fate that this whole mess had in store for them.

I started explaining, pacing back and forth behind my desk, while trying to be as vague and gentle as I possibly could. Sue shifted uncomfortably in her chair when I got to Leah's reaction about Sam Uley. My father sit as still as a statue, arms crossed across his chest, with a deep crease of concern between his eyebrows. When I started explaining the fifteen missing women, both of their eyes widened. By the time I got to the full confession that Emily had given me earlier today- Sue had her hands over her mouth. My father stared up at me, completely in disbelief.

"I don't know what Leah's involvement is, or how she even knows Sam, but…"

Sue hurriedly wiped away the tears on her cheeks before digging her phone out of her purse. When the call went to her voicemail she tried again. This continued until she threw the phone away from her in frustration. I watched, feeling entirely inept, as Charlie pulled her up and into his arms. He whispered against her ear as her body shook with uncontrolled sobbing.

"I'm sorry," I said, helplessly. "If I had known I would have tried to stop her or… or at least…"

My apology, my words, felt inadequate.

Leah and I had never been close, and I'd always assumed she hated me, but that didn't mean that I wasn't worried for her. Sue, aside from Esme, was the closest thing I'd ever had to a mother figure in my life. Seeing her like this, consumed by fear, made my heart physically ache.

I should have done more. I should have pressed for more answers when Leah had reacted the way she did. I obviously knew that Sam was not someone she should have been involved with, even without all the new information, and yet I'd just walked away. I put it off to her being Leah- someone unstable, someone that overreacts, someone that…

Tears fell from the corner of my eyes as the realization of just how hypocritical I'd been hit me.

I'd fought for Emily. I was willing to fight for those fifteen missing women. But it was easy to write off Leah. She was just the type of target Sam and Paul went after. A broken and scared women with low self-esteem, someone that had previously been in trouble, someone that people could easily forget about.

When he saw my crying, Charlie lifted one arm- inviting me to come to him, and I did. I held on to the back of his t-shirt, pressed my face against his chest, and let my other arm wrap around Sue. We stood there together, coming to terms with what this now meant for all of us, and crying for all of the unknown that we still had to face.

XXXX

"Come here." Edward's fingers delicately wiped away the tears on my face. I closed my eyes when the pads of this thumbs ran underneath them. Once he'd finished, his hands moved to my neck and his thumbs to my jaw. "Bella, look at me."

I did what he asked, immediately finding his face in front of me. His worry, anxiety, exhaustion- all of it mirrored my own.

"We will find her," He said in a slow, deliberate tone.

I reached forward, touching his chest. My fingers slid down, touching each button of shirt, until they came to rest on his sides. "And if we don't?"

"We'll be okay. I promis-"

I shook my head, bunching the fabric of his shirt in my hands. "Don't make a promise you can't keep, Edward."

I wanted to believe him. I wanted to have that kind of faith in our circumstances but I didn't. Maybe that would change once we talked to Quil. Maybe he had a solution that would fix all of this. But right now it didn't change the fact I had a client who was in imminent danger, a stepsister that could be missing or worse, two parents that were beside themselves with worry, and friends that could be put in harm's way.

"We will be okay." He said again, holding my face so I was looking at him. "We stay together and we figure it out together. Right?"

Edward leaned down when I didn't respond, pressing his lips hard against mine. It wasn't passionate or all consuming. It didn't involve our hands roaming over each other's bodies. But at that exact moment it was exactly what we both needed. I let him push me back against the wall, let his hands hold me in place, because he needed to feel the control as much as I did. Too many things were rapidly spinning us in different directions. We needed a constant still, something we knew wouldn't topple, and it was this. Us.

"Right?" He asked again, his face was only inches from mine. I could feel his whispered words on my mouth when he spoke them.

I leaned up in him, standing on my toes, and pulled him closer to me. "Right."

Edward held the door to the conference room open, letting me enter before he did. Once I was through the door, he put his hand on my back, ushering me inside. I roughly wiped away the last few tears on my face, avoiding the stares of Quil and Embry, before taking the seat next to Jasper. Once Edward was seated on my other side I looked up to face the two of them.

Quil leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table, before speaking. "I have a few friends in Seattle that work for the US Marshal's office. I gave them a brief explanation about what all happened- what we've been able to piece together and what Emily told you this afternoon. One of them is on his way here right now. He'll want to meet with Emily first, obviously, but they'll open an investigation. With it going across state lines, possibly even into another country, I don't think they'll have any jurisdiction issues. But even if they did the FBI-"

"What about Emily?" I asked anxiously. It was rude to interrupt but I couldn't help myself. "She can't stay here while they investigate this. What if Sam finds out? It would put everyone here in danger."

"Well," he shifted in his chair. "That's what we need to figure out. They'll put her up in a safe house but will she go? With her past trauma… Is it a risk to move her?"

I looked at Edward but knew he wouldn't have an answer. Emily didn't talk to him. She didn't talk to anyone.

"I'll… I'll have to talk to her" I stuttered over the words. "She understands how dangerous this is. But if nothing else, I can stay with her until she's comfortable."

"Bella." Edward said in a low voice.

I knew he would object but if it came down to that we'd have no other choice. A dull headache had started to throb behind my eyes and I roughly rubbed my forehead before saying, "There might not be an alternative."

He shifted in his chair and I knew that he'd have more to say about it later.

"Immunity?" Jasper asked. "They can't hold her responsible for the choices she made while in those conditions."

I was glad that one of us had the sense to think about this from a legal point of view. Since leaving Sue and my dad in my office, it felt like I was walking in a fog of uncertainty and disbelief.

Quil leaned back in his chair. "Of course they can't tell me anything like that over the phone but I would imagine that given the circumstances they'll be agreeable."

"Something else is going on," Embry said, looking at me. "What happened?"

Instead of standing off to the side, like he'd done the two previous times we'd met with them, Embry was seated directly across from me. His gaze made me uncomfortable for some reason.

"My stepsister… she… she knows Sam," I muttered.

"They've tried to get a hold of her all night and can't," Edward added once my voice had trailed off. "Obviously, now that we know the full story, we're all concerned."

Quil leaned back in his chair but Embry didn't divert his attention from me.

"If…" I swallowed around the hard knot in my throat. "When they find out that Emily told me… Well, everyone on that reservation knows who my father is. They know he's married to Sue and that Leah is her daughter. It won't be hard for anyone to put together all the pieces. If we can't find her before…"

"Do you have her number?" Embry reached across the table to grab Jasper's pen. "I can try to ping her cellphone."

A small bit of hope flickered in my chest as he quickly wrote down her number.

"Got it." He pushed away from the table, tossed Jasper's pen back to him. "Give me a few hours."

With that he left the four of us sitting in an uncomfortable silence.

XXXXX

It was early September, still a while before true autumn weather would settle in, but the breeze in the night air had a chill to it. I stood in the secured parking lot of Hope House, my arms wrapped around myself, and watched as Edward and Jasper put the sleeping kids into their car seats. After Charlotte was secure, Alice stepped in to tuck a blanket around her. Jasper did the same for Peter.

"Hotel, right?" Edward asked his sister in a hushed voice.

She nodded before quietly shutting the car door. "Mom and dad are meeting us there so I'll have help with the kids until Jasper…"

Alice's eyes moved from her brother to me and the worried guilt that had settled in my chest felt heavier. My shoulders hunched forward under the weight.

Maybe we were overreacting, sending Alice and the kids away with Esme and Carlisle, but I couldn't blame Jasper or Edward for feeling it was necessary. There were still so many question, too many loose ends, and not enough certainty that there was no danger. If I had my way, my father and Sue, Emmett and Rosalie, and anyone else that might have the slightest connection to any of us would go with them.

Edward pulled his sister in a hug, resting his chin on the top of her head. "Think of it as a vacation. The kids will love the pool and room service."

"A vacation without my husband and brother?" There was a bite to her tone but she hugged him back. "I swear to God, Edward. If anything happens to any of you…"

"Stop." He interrupted her. Jasper was rounding the back of Alice's SUV, and we knew they would need some time alone, so Edward placed a single kiss against the top of her head before letting go. "I love you."

"I love you." Alice's attention turned to me. "And you, too. Come here."

Unfolding my arms, I stepped into her embrace. "I'm sorry," I whispered. "I never should have involved Jasper in this."

She squeezed me before shaking her head. "Take care of them, okay?"

I passed her off to Jasper without saying anything in return. How could I? That wasn't a promise I could make.

"It could be a while before the US Marshal gets here," Edward said, pulling me to his side as Jasper enveloped Alice in his arms. We slowly walked away to give them a few minutes of privacy. "Why don't you try to get some rest."

I shook my head, looking down at our feet. "We need to talk to Emily."

He wanted to disagree, to tell me that I wouldn't be any good to her or anyone else if I ran myself ragged, but after looking at his watch all he did was squeeze my shoulder. "Do you want me there?"

"We all need to be there."